Yes, you can laser cut cardboard, and it is one of the easiest sheet materials to cut cleanly—provided the cardboard is plain, dry, uncoated, and used with conservative power, speed, ventilation, and fire-safety practices. The best choice depends on the…
For most projects, the best boss laser settings starting point are 15–25% power at 300–500 mm/s for thin wood, 12–20% power at 250–400 mm/s for cast acrylic engraving, and one slow cutting pass followed by a second pass only when…
The fastest way to find reliable laser cutter settings is to test speed, power, focus, air assist, and pass count on scrap from the same material batch before cutting the finished project. A setting that cuts 3 mm birch plywood…
Laser etching is a surface marking process where a focused laser beam melts the top layer of a material — typically to a depth of less than 0.001 inches — creating a high-contrast mark without removing significant material. It sits…
Z focus on a galvo laser is set by matching the lens’s working distance to the top surface of your material — measured from the lens housing to the workpiece — then verifying with focus ramp tests and shrinking the…
Yes, you can cut acrylic with a laser cutter — it’s actually one of the best materials for the job — but the type of acrylic you buy and its thickness decide whether you get glass-clear polished edges or a…
Yes, you can laser engrave plastic, but only when the exact plastic is identified, its safety data is checked, and the laser settings are established with a test grid. “Plastic” describes hundreds of materials with very different reactions to heat.…
Yes, you can laser cut plexiglass, but the cleanest results depend on using the right laser, acrylic type, thickness, masking, and ventilation. “Plexiglass” is a brand name often used for acrylic sheet, including both cast and extruded PMMA; it is…
The best laser etching software is the software that matches your laser controller, imports the files you already use, provides practical layout tools, and previews the job accurately before the machine starts. “Laser etch software” is not interchangeable across machines.…
The Short Answer The right laser cutter fume extractor depends on three numbers: your enclosure’s volume, the duct run length, and what you’re cutting. As a rule of thumb, you need enough airflow (measured in CFM) to exchange the air…